Knitting-machine.



B. WESSELL.

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED JAN. 1a, 1912.

Patented Sept. 10, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

gl/mento@ @MF 3. y/gMMt/Sl so chine-in UNITED STATES PATENT "caricia,

BERT WESSELL, F JOHNSTOWN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB T0 -WESSELL KNITTING COMPANY, A COPARTNERSHIP.

murs-MACHINE Specicationpf Letters Patent.

Patented sept, 1o, 1912.

application mea January 13,1912. serial No. 671,046.

city of A Johnstown county of Fulton, and- 6 State of .NewYor have invented or d iscovered certain new and useful Improvements inKnittingMachines`, of which the following is a clear and complete disclosure. My invention relates to knitting machines 10 known as Hat machines, of the kind comprising a series of needles arranged on aneedle bed and adaptedv to be operated by cams on a carriage' reciprocated over the needles along the needle bed.-

1li In knitting many garments with machines of this kind, it is .desirable to adjust the machines so as to give the carriage a certain strokev or travel while forming the body portion of a garment and a shorter stroke while forming divided portions of the garment, such as lthe fingers and thumbs of gloves, the arms and necks of sweaters and shirts,

and the legs of drawers. Itis also desirable 'to vary the stroke of the carriage for different sizes of garments. Not only is it desirable to va the length of travel of the carriage but it lis desirable to confine the travel toditferent portions of thebed when' knitting extensions on garments of--diiierent A kinds and of varying sizes.' Furthermore,

in operating a machine of'this kind, it is -usually not necessary to u'se all of the needles at one time, and in order to insure the needles wearing uniformly, it is necessary 35 from .time to time to adjust the travel of the carriage so that di'erent needles will be operated and the wear uniformly distributed.A It will thus be seen that in order to obtainthe'best results with -amachine of this kind,

40 means inust be provided whereby the opera- -tor can easily and quickly make ,the nu- `merous adjustments necessary to obtain the Adesired carriage movements2 andthe object -of my invention' is to provlde such means. I accomplishthis object by providing a new andixnprovedadjustable connecting rod and an improved crank having a varia le throw for operating the connecting rod, and by comb f' these-with each other in a mamanner hereinafter described. 4 In the accompan and forina part of specificationhave illustrated one embodiment. of my improved conrod and crank and have shownthese 5 5 in com each ether'and with so 'other' socketamay be provided.-

much of the mechanism of afiat knitting machine as is necessary to illustrate the application, use and advantages of my improvements. p

In this drawing Figure l is a perspective view of the needle bed, carriage and drivin mechanism of a flat knitting machine, wit my improved connecting rod and crank mounted thereon. The crank isfin the form of a ,wheeland is hereinafter referred-.to as 66 acrank-Wheel. Fig. 2 is a detail view, A partly .in section, of the connecting i r'od 'shown in Fig. .1. Fig. 3'is a'detail face view of the crank-wheel shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is -a sectional view taken on the line I0 s 30fFi'g-2. l Forthepurposc of illustration and-explanation I have shown-the machine arranged to knit gloves'of eight different sizes with four finger extensions knit thereon.`

Referring in detail to the mechanism .shown in these figures, numeral .1 designates the needle bed ofa fiat knitting machine, and a carriage 2 is arranged to bemoved back and forth over the needle bed for the purpose of operating the needlesthereon., A In applying my improvements the needle bed and carriage may be of any approved Q make and type. For purposes of illustration I have shown in outline a needle bed and carriage such as are generally known as the Lamb type. :The numeral 3 designates the crank-wheel which has' ei ht'grooves 4 formed on its. face. Each o these grooves contains a pluralityofholes or sockets 5 adapted to receive the spring-pressedI pin 6 mounted in the crank pin 7. This crank in is mounted on al base or block 8 arranged) to slide back and forth in the slots 4, and a handle 9 is' pro- 95 vided for withdrawing and inserting the in 6 and locating the crank in over the e- -sired socketewhereit Vis he d by the pin Aonly *FWO .SOckets'in each groove will be re- 105 lquired, an outer onefor usein forming the.

body portion of the glovev an innerone 'the 'finger If'it is desired' tomake the ingel 'rs of va thsizesp crank-wheel constructed in this manner the 'operator can easily adjust the machine so asto give the stroke required to knit the different parts of the garment.

vln order to localize the travel of the carriage, the-connecting rod is iliade of two tolcscoping parts 11 and 12. The part 12 is tubular and slides over the rod` 11 which' has eight groups of sockets 13` formed-,on its surface. Four of these groups are at one lovend of the rod 'and I'our at the other. A

latch 1.4, slidably mounted on-thc member 12,

In order to evenly distribute lthe wear4 along the needle bed, the connecting rod may be leiigtliened or shortened by raising the latch 1'1- and sliding it along the member 12 until it. registers with an opening 15 corresponding to the length of connecting rod desired. The latch 14 is pivoted onthe band 18 which is free to slide endwise or be rotated when the latch is raised out ofthe opening 15.

Any small adjustment of length of the connecting rod may be had by screwing in or out the lugs 16 and 17 at the ends of the connecting rod.

'lhc operation of the mechanism ab'ove described, lwhen used for knitting gloves, is as follows: The. crank end of the connecting rod is moved and secured in position over 40 the outer socket 5 of the group corresponding to the size of the glove to be knitted. After this adjustment is had the machine is operated until the body poi-tion of the glove has been formed. Any small variation in the size of the body portion may be had 'by varying the tension of the thread, or by disengaging and-lowering certain of. the needles, or in any other of the customary ways for eifectingthis obyect. Next, the operator 5o dlsengages the cran c yend of the connecting rod and slides it along the same groove to an inncr'sockct 5. This socket is so placed as to give' the necessary' travel to the carriage required for knitting a linger. The operay 5i tor then raises the latch 14 and locates itin the first socket ofthe group corresponding to the sizeof glove being formed. The first finger is then knit,jand when it is finished the operator stops theniachine, moves the latch intothe'second sockelof the saine group andi-'operatoria the machine. until the second {ingdrhas'li'en"formed, This opera- "-tionis coitinu'cdiiiritilfall thc'` fingers have` been completed. lf sonie'iof theingers'nr desired smaller in size than others, they may lbe .so made' by using sockets 5 adapted to give a smaller travel to the carria ie. If it is desi red to change the size of the g oves being 'knitted this may be done .by moving the pin (3 into a slotl 4 corresponding to thesize de- `sircd and by shifting thc latch into operative relation with one ot the sockets of the group correspoiulin'g to the saine size.

The gloves may be knit separately; that is, after one glove has` been formed it may be removed and another glove commenced,

though preferably the machine 4is operated so as to carry. out the method of knitting -described in my pending application Serial No. 667,270, which method briefly described consists 4in knitting an elongated stri foi-ined alternately of body portions and divided 'limb ornger extensions, and then in cutting'the elongated member into indi' vidual garments. y

ln the connect-ing rod shown, four of the socket groups'on the member 11 are at one.

end and -:four ntthe other end, so that in using those at the outer yend it is necessary to reverse the 'position of this member. In practising my invention, however, all of these groups may be located, at one end of the rod.` l

It will be observed that the sockets 5 on the crank 3, by reason of their arrangement in groups serve not only as means for securing the connecting rod in position, but indi-. cate to the operator the point where the connecting rod is to be attached 1n-order to knit the various parts of the article of the desired size. Likewise, the sockets 13 in the member 11, by reason of their arrangement in groups indicate to the operator the spacing'and adjustment required for forming the desired limb members or divided extensions vat the right position on, the main body portion. The sockets of the separate groups are preferably arranged in aline as shown, and so as to be used in sequence. By reason of this arrangement theoperator can quickly secure the desired adjustment by moving the pin 6 and latch 14 from socket to socket.4 A

While for the purpose' of illustration and explanation I have chosen an arrangement intended for knitting gloves` my improvementsl are equally applicable to arrangements for knitting shirts, sweaters,'drawers,

and yany other articles now made-on ma'- chin'os of this tvpe. In order to use myamthiow'for knitting the body and limb memhers, 'and'to provide a connectingirodliwith sockets 13 grouped and' spaced t'o1corre'ctly 'localizethe carriage travel forformingthe limb members-'on the ditfe're'nt sizes' of gar" ments. It is obvious that the same crank O r ijoeaoee p crank-Wheel and connecting rod can/be used for knitting any number of dierent garments so long as there is space for the required groups of sockets or points of attachnient.

Where a machine is used for knitting a large variety of garments and it is not possible to place all' of the desired socket groups on one crank or one rod, eXtra cranks and rods may be provided, and used interchangeably.

While l have described only one embodi' ment of my invention, ll am aware that this may be varied by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope oi my claim.

What l claim is:

lin a machine of the kind described, the combination. of a crank having-a variable throw, a plurality of pointsindicated there on for determining the length of the throvv,

said points being arranged in groups, each group comprising a point corresponding to' a throw suitable for use in forming the body portion of a garment of a predetermined size and one or more points indicating a throw suitable for forming extensions thereon, all in combination with an adjustable connecting rod having a plurality of points of adjustment indicated thereon for determining the length of the rod, said points being arranged in groups, each group cornprising a point corresponding to the length required for the bodyy port-ion of the garmentpof said predetermined size, and one or more points indicating a length suitable for use in forming extensions thereon, substantially as described.

BERT SSELL. Witnesses:

ELLEN FRENCH, BELLE RoDGEns. 

